Crop insurance, disaster relief spending expected to skyrocket

Without “ambitious action” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the long-term effects of climate change may cost the U.S. government and American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars per year, a federal report released earlier this month has found.

The report — jointly published by the Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers — used different global change models to forecast the fiscal consequences of climate change. While the report acknowledged there are still too many unknowns to fully understand climate change’s impact, it predicted that crop insurance, healthcare, wildfire suppression and disaster relief programs will likely see sharp spending increases.

Federal spending in those four areas could increase by as much as $112 billion per year toward the later part of this century, the report found.

“This is a very valuable study,” said David Doniger, director of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a not-for-profit advocacy organization based in New York. “This study shows the actual, real-life, long-term economic problems for the federal government, for the taxpayer and for the economy as a whole.”

Climate change is caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The accumulation of those gases traps heat and prevents the planet from cooling off.

In the United States, experts say that the effects of climate change will likely bring drought to some areas and wetter winters to others. Worldwide, effects will likely include rising sea levels, more intense heat waves and unpredictable extreme weather.

On top of steep spending increases, federal revenue is also projected to take a severe hit because of climate change, the report found. With continued global warming, the U.S. government could see a loss in revenue between $340 billion to $690 billion annually.

“The cost that taxpayers would bear is probably just the tip of the iceberg when you also take into account the costs to the economy,” Doniger said.

Failing crops, flooding and fires

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s federal crop insurance program — administered by the Risk Management Agency — helps protect farmers from financial losses caused by poor crops or low prices.

Although crop insurance has become a cornerstone for keeping farmers in business in down years, critics argue the program has become far too costly. In 2015, USDA data shows that more than 1.2 million individual crop insurance policies were sold covering more than 120 crops across 300 million acres.

The cost to the federal government — which subsidized the premiums farmers pay — was more than $6 billion.

In their joint report, the Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers found that climate change will likely cause crop insurance to increase by “billions of dollars each year” by late-century, as farmers deal with reduced yields and environmental uncertainty. The report found that subsidies for soybeans could increase by more than 60 percent, while subsidies for corn could increase by more than 40 percent.

Impacts to agriculture will also affect food security overall, the report found.

“This is not just crop insurance,” said Doniger, who has worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council since 1978. “It’s bigger than that.”

In addition to insuring farmers’ crops, the U.S. government also provides funds for when natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires destroy communities.

Spending for disaster relief in the aftermath of coastal hurricanes has exceeded $200 billion since 2000. By 2075, annual economic damages could be about $120 billion more compared to 2016, the report found.

Climate change has led to fire seasons that are now on average 78 days longer than they were 50 years ago, according to federal statistics. That increase has been caused by a combination of warmer temperatures and less precipitation.

The report found that future fire seasons could last up to 300 days in “many areas of the country.”

A new U.S. Department of Agriculture aerial survey brought the total number of dead trees in California up to more than 102 million across 7.7 million acres of drought-stricken forests. In 2016 alone, about 62 million trees have died.

“These dead and dying trees continue to elevate the risk of wildfire, complicate our efforts to respond safety and effectively to fires when they do occur, and pose a host of threats to life and property across California,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement.

To lessen financial impacts, Doniger said it’s important that policymakers and international leaders “take action now.” He said that doing so would be “a very smart thing to do,” though he’s doubtful the incoming administration under President-elect Donald Trump will take any meaningful steps to mitigate the effects of climate change.

“You think that people who profess to be concerned about the future of the economy and restoring American greatness wouldn’t ignore this stuff, but I suspect that it will be tough to get the new administration to take seriously this threat,” Doniger said.

]]>https://investigatemidwest.org/2016/11/29/federal-report-forecasts-hundreds-of-billions-of-dollars-in-climate-change-costs/feed/0Urban Areas Making Strides Toward Improved Communication But Hurdles Existhttps://investigatemidwest.org/2011/08/09/urban-areas-making-strides-toward-improved-communication-but-hurdles-exist/
https://investigatemidwest.org/2011/08/09/urban-areas-making-strides-toward-improved-communication-but-hurdles-exist/#respondTue, 09 Aug 2011 09:28:48 +0000http://investigatemidwest.org/?p=820Kansas City and St. Louis are well-known for their fragmentation -- and that extends to emergency services like police and fire departments. But emergency response officials note some positive developments, such as the development of an infrastructure to allow agencies to talk during an emergency. Second of two parts.

]]>The St. Louis region is well-known for its fragmentation -- and that extends to emergency services like police and fire departments.

St. Louis County alone, for example, has roughly 43 fire agencies, 67 police departments and 91 municipalities. And that doesn't include emergency agencies in Jefferson County, St. Charles County or the Metro East.

Still Nick Gragnani, the executive director of the St. Louis Area Regional Response System, notes some positive developments.

He pointed to the decision of three counties -- St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Jefferson County -- to pass ballot items to beef up their communications system. And he said STARRS is in the process of developing the infrastructure to allow agencies to talk during an emergency.

10 Years Later: Are We Safer?

As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks nears, are we safer from a terrorist attack? In a series of articles, funded by grants from the St. Louis Press Club and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the St. Louis Beacon and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting will look at how money from the Department of Homeland Security was spent in Missouri.

Such a system is important not only in the event of a potential terrorist attack, he said, but also in a natural disaster or a catastrophic incident.

The goal is "to have a communications system in the St. Louis metropolitan region (for) when something major happens: the F-5 type tornado in Joplin, the Katrina event or the bridge collapse like what happened in Minneapolis," Gragnani said.

HERDING CATS

The St. Louis area has a jumble of jurisdictions -- and communications systems. And that isn't exactly congruent with the need to talk together during an incident like the Minnesota bridge collapse, Gragnani said.

"You have to take that concept, that parochial idea that 'I want my own thing to handle my daily-type incidents,' but then it's got to be there when a major incident occurs," Gragnani said. "And all those individual townships and municipalities and counties now have to become one response system. There's got to be a system there to where they can all talk to each other so they can coordinate that response."

Getting these agencies on the same communications page has been one of STARRS' largest projects since it started administering Homeland Security money. STARRS has spent nearly $12 million in Homeland Security grants to build an interoperable network since October 2004. Some funds came from Urban Area Security Initiative grants as well as federal funds aimed at building interoperability systems.

STARRS started out purchasing individual radios for the special response teams across the region, including the St. Louis Police Department and security personnel with Metro and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

"We bought [radios] for Lambert airport," Gragnani said. "We bought some for Metro in case there was an incident involving the Metrolink or any one of their buses. But the stipulation was it could not be used for daily use. It had to be put into a suitcase and charged and available when something big happened."

But Gragnani said his agency knew they had to do more. That's why they embarked on building a "microwave" network to band the different agencies together.

Starting in 2007, Gragnani said STARRS began an initiative that includes constructing a microwave communications network of 76 microwave tower sites connected by 85 microwave hops or links.

"When you set up an office complex, you need to have computers on people's desks. You need to have a server that ties all those computers together," Gragnani said. "So in theory, we're actually creating (something) like an intranet that allows all those different radio systems to function individually but then creates regionwide talk groups."

COUNTIES STEP UP

While the microwave towers were one step toward creating interoperability, the next step involved compatible equipment.

As Gragnani noted, St. Louis city and Madison, Monroe and St Clair counties in Illinois all have existing equipment that would work with the microwave system. St. Louis County, Jefferson County and St. Charles County passed bond issues in 2009 to purchase communications equipment.

"In 2009, the three counties -- Jefferson County first in April, followed by St. Charles County in August and then St. Louis County in November -- all received voter approval to the passage of bond issues to build their radio systems," Gragnani said. "That's when this really took on life and picked up speed."

These bond issues allowed the three counties to build interoperable communications systems, which can be sustained by local funding sources.

David "Duff" Barney, the director of emergency communications network for St. Louis County, said a 2009 sales tax increase helps create the infrastructure to bind all of the county's disparate agencies under one radio network.

Barney, who came to St. Louis County in 2010 after spending time in Fairfax County, Va., said radio interoperability has existed for several years in that Washington, D.C., suburb "with thousands of public safety providers able to talk to one another on individual radios."

The goal, Barney said, is to bring that interconnectivity to St. Louis.

"So if a police officer from one municipality and a fire department from 10 miles away or a public works representative or a building inspector from yet another region have to accomplish a task, they will be able to talk to one another with the radios that they are assigned," Barney said. "They won't have to go through some cumbersome patches or reprogramming. They won't have to have special pass-out radios for this one task."

As the Beacon reported earlier this year, malfunctioning radio equipment was a big problem during the Good Friday tornado that swept across north St. Louis County. Some 800 emergency dispatch calls locked up St. Louis County's communications system, which left first responders from the Pattonville Fire District out of the loop.

Ed Kemp, chief of Jefferson County's Office of Emergency Management, said in an interview that nearly $30 million will be spent to purchase new hardware, such as radios. That equipment will be purchased from a sale tax increase of one-half of 1 percent passed in 2009 (for 10 years).

"For Jefferson County, if you can go to the voters, explain what the circumstances are, explain what you're doing and ... what's going to happen when you do it, our voters have been supportive on anything dealing with law enforcement or fire department," Kemp said.

In addition to replacing equipment that meets a looming 2013 FCC mandate -- Kemp noted that some radios in the Sheriff's Department are 15 to 20 years old -- the radios will also move toward the interoperability.

"They can be on the same talk groups and the other thing that we can do that we can't do now is the police will be able to talk to fire departments direct, the fire departments will be able to talk to the EMS direct, the EMS will be able to talk to the police departments direct," Kemp said. "You'll have not only interoperability between the counties, you'll have interoperability between the disciplines."

Towers, not radios, as centerpiece of interoperability

While St. Louis has STARRS, Kansas City has MARRS -- short for the Metropolitan Area Regional Radio System.

The similarities don't end there when it comes to approaches to improving communication among first responders, with Kansas City sharing the challenge of connecting a large region.

Kansas City's homeland security zone encompasses eight counties -- five in Missouri and three in Kansas -- that have nearly 120 cities with a combined population of 2 million people. It is home to the nation's second largest rail hub, its third largest trucking center, along with thriving agriculture and bioscience industries, according to the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), which coordinates the area's homeland security program.

The region is even bigger when you talk about interoperability, said Keith Faddis, MARC's public safety director. That's because Miami County, Kan., which is in the path of the metropolitan area's southwestern sprawl, is part of the 911 network.

Most of the region's communications upgrades came between 2006 and 2010, Faddis said, when it garnered roughly $13.3 million in federal funds. The total includes money through the Public Safety Interoperable Communications Grant Program, which is administered through the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

MARC has built the backbone of the system, including the 11-tower Regional Area Multi-Band Integrated System (RAMBIS), rather than purchasing radios or other equipment for first responders.

"We estimate there are about 25,000 radios in the MARC region," he said. "If you try and buy $3,500 radios for those folks, you run out of money pretty quick."
RAMBIS began operating last year as a first step toward improving interoperability. By using a converter, first responders from various jurisdictions can communicate, even if they have different radio equipment and operate on different frequencies. It's a relatively simple system, making it a cost-effective solution. It also provides easier accessibility to first responders from outside the region who provide assistance in a major disaster. The drawback, Faddis said, is that the system only has three channels.

That's where MARRS comes in, he said. With 16 channels, the system can handle multiple emergencies at once -- with one channel, for instance, covering a car chase while a joint search warrant operation plays out on another. But it's likely to be more expensive for agencies to connect to that system, given that it will require them to purchase new equipment. MARRS is built around three "host" agencies: Johnson County, Kan., Kansas City, Mo., and Independence, Mo. The system is expected to be ready by the fourth quarter of this year.

MARRS and RAMBIS are meant to be complementary. Even if agencies do not hook up to MARRS, they will still have interoperability through RAMBIS.

Participating agencies agree to keep their systems up to date. "Because if you don't do that," Faddis said, "eventually your radio won't talk. If it gets three or four versions behind, you are going to have a problem."

Kansas City's improved communications system has not been battle tested by a natural disaster or other regional emergency, but Faddis said officials turned to RAMBIS earlier this year when neighboring Wyandotte County could not receive 911 calls because of a phone problem. Johnson County fielded the emergency calls and then radioed the nature of the call to Wyandotte County through RAMBIS.

The emphasis on interoperability that followed 9/11 expedited efforts already underway in the Kansas City area, Faddis said. Spurred by the fact that Johnson County, Kansas City and Independence were upgrading their systems at the same time, officials were already talking about how to improve the patchwork system that allowed for some interconnectivity.

"Previously, whatever was out there was kind of a cobbled together sort of thing, and it might have been a very localized interoperability," he said. "But now, it's across the region."

North Kansas City, Mo., a municipality just across the Missouri River from Kansas City, Mo., is one jurisdiction that will tie into MARRS, but participation won't come cheaply. The city expects to spend $1.6 million this fiscal year to upgrade equipment for its police department, said Maj. Jesse McLendon. He's the department's support services and homeland security commander, and he's also co-chair of MARC's Regional Interoperability Committee.

The investment is worth it, McLendon said. It wasn't so long ago, he said, that interoperability meant carrying three radios in your car to speak with various agencies. With MARRS, they will need just one.

McLendon has spent nearly half his 41-year law enforcement career working to improve interoperability in the region, and the new systems coming on line are "kind of the pinnacle of getting it done."

And, he added, "I won't get to see it finished." He heads into retirement after today.

FRANKLIN COUNTY: BETWEEN ROCK AND HARD PLACE?While other counties are figuring out ways to meet the looming FCC mandate and hook up to an integrated system, Franklin County is caught in uncomfortable limbo.

The fast-growing county is too large to latch onto federal grants that have helped smaller jurisdictions pay for radios. And officials there say it's unlikely they'd be able to raise their sales tax to pay for new equipment.

In essence, Sherriff Gary Toelke said the county is struggling to figure out what to do.

"It's kind of frustrating to be in our situation and have somebody say, 'You have to do this and we're not going to give you any money for it,'" Toelke said. "I don't know what the consequences are going to be if we don't. And I've asked that a few times and not really got a great answer."

Franklin County, Toelke said, is financially strapped and "doing it on our own is pretty much not going to happen."

Toelke added, "The sales tax issue, that obviously would be a way to fund it. But there again, taxes aren't real possible right now. And I just don't know if it would pass or not. There are just a lot of unanswered questions. But right now, we just can't flat out afford it."

That's not to say officials in the county don't see the need for interoperability. Abe Cook, the director of the Franklin Emergency Management Agency, said, "Interoperability is very important; it's second only to operability."

"The ability to bring in people from the surrounding areas with professional services and communicate with them could potentially save lives and property -- and money," Cook said.

Toelke said the county formed a committee that is looking into seeing whether the county's equipment conforms to the FCC mandate. He added that if the county can't comply with the mandate that it might apply for an extension.

But Toelke said there's still uncertainty about what will happen if Franklin County can't meet requirements.

"Are we going to be in our own little world where we can't talk to anybody in any other areas?" Toelke said. "What's going to be outcome of that?"

Mike Sherry, the executive director of the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, contributed to this report.

]]>https://investigatemidwest.org/2011/08/09/urban-areas-making-strides-toward-improved-communication-but-hurdles-exist/feed/0Federal Program Seeks to Avoid Failure to Communicate in Emergencieshttps://investigatemidwest.org/2011/08/09/federal-program-seeks-to-avoid-failure-to-communicate-in-emergencies/
https://investigatemidwest.org/2011/08/09/federal-program-seeks-to-avoid-failure-to-communicate-in-emergencies/#respondTue, 09 Aug 2011 09:02:05 +0000http://investigatemidwest.org/?p=808Interoperability allows emergency responders to talk to each other when emergency strikes. It has been a major component of Homeland Security, especially after 9/11 revealed failures in communication. Since 2005, $23.22 million has been spent in Missouri to upgrade radios, but the Joplin tornado showed that jurisdictions aren't all on the same wave length. Part one of two parts.

John Redden, deputy chief of police in Carterville, doesn't take his upgraded communications system for granted. That's just not something you can do in a small southwestern Missouri town.

Redden's department got new radios, courtesy of federal Homeland Security money. They make Redden's job in the police department easier, but, more important, he says the devices saved officers' lives in the line of duty.

"I can tell you these radios are lifesavers," he said.

For smaller departments like Carterville, federal grants have helped modernize communications. Such equipment makes it easier for them to do their jobs -- and, at times, have been a lifeline. But when a once-in-a-lifetime tornado hit Joplin earlier this spring, Carterville had trouble linking up with the beleaguered community's radios. That showcased one of the stresses of interoperable communications systems.

10 Years Later: Are We Safer?

As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks nears, are we safer from a terrorist attack? In a series of articles, funded by grants from the St. Louis Press Club and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the St. Louis Beacon and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting will look at how money from the Department of Homeland Security was spent in Missouri.

The concept of interoperability is simple: It allows emergency response agencies to talk to each other when an emergency strikes. Interoperability has been a major component of Homeland Security, especially after the 9/11 attacks showcased failures in communication among public safety personnel.

Bigger jurisdictions -- such as the St. Louis region -- have taken it upon themselves to buy equipment to improve communications and coordination. Homeland Security supplements the effort by providing funds for building a microwave network to connect emergency personnel in an emergency.

For smaller communities throughout the state, the rush to get radios is driven in part by a Federal Communications Commission mandate taking effect in 2013.

One conservative critic of the Department of Homeland Security's grants says the program is self-defeating. Even if a smaller community receives money to purchase the radios, they may be stuck with inferior equipment if future federal money doesn't come through in subsequent years.

Redden

"In a couple of years, you're back where you started from," said James Jay Carafano, a policy expert at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation. "So the impact is negative."

SEAMLESS COMMUNICATION

The Department of Homeland Security defines interoperability as "the ability of emergency responders to work seamlessly with other systems or products without any special effort."

The department's website explains: "When communications systems are interoperable, police and firefighters responding to a routine incident can talk to each other to coordinate efforts. Communications interoperability also makes it possible for emergency response agencies responding to catastrophic accidents or disasters to work effectively together."

The need for interoperable communications was made abundantly clear after the 9/11 attacks, when different emergency management agencies had trouble communicating with each other. That led to an effort to bolster communications systems throughout the country.

Mike O'Connell, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety, said that $23.22 million has been sent to local jurisdictions since 2005 for mobile and portable radios, base stations, repeaters, communications vehicles, software, maintenance and accessories. O'Connell added that grants from 2007 to 2010 are still available and that the figure does not include expenditures that are planned or obligated.

That figure, O'Connell said, stems from money provided to the state from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's State Homeland Security Grant Program and, starting in 2007, from the Public Safety Interoperable Communications Grant.

"The state of Missouri applies for and administers grant funds received from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to build capabilities to prepare for and respond to emergencies and disasters," O'Connell said in an e-mailed statement. "Eighty percent of this money must support these capabilities at the local level. The capability to communicate across jurisdictional and discipline lines...has been one of the top priorities in Missouri's homeland security program the past six years."

MUTUAL AID

Carterville, the Jasper County town of roughly 1,800 people, received $18,225 in grants to buy three mobile radios and eight portable radios, according to the State Emergency Management Agency.

Other agencies in southwest Missouri that received the grants, according to a 2007 article from the Joplin Business Journal, included police departments in Diamond, Granby, Lamar, Sarcoxie and Webb City. The Barton County and McDonald County Sheriff's departments also received grants.

While the radios generally have been used in day-to-day situations, Redden said, they've also been crucial during emergencies. On May 22, when a massive tornado hit Joplin, roughly eight miles from Carterville, Redden said the department communicated with other emergency response jurisdictions for search, rescue and recovery efforts.

"One of the requirements for accepting [the grants for the radios] is whenever you have the radios, there has to be a mutual aid programmed into that," Redden said. "And with (the Joplin tornado), we were using our police mutual aid to communicate with other jurisdictions when most of the other communications were down."

Redden said the department was able to communicate with personnel from smaller Jasper County communities such as Duenweg or Oronogo. But the department couldn't get in touch with Joplin officials because of the differences between the radios.

"There's the analog system like we use and then there's the digital system that bigger agencies use like Joplin's," Redden said. "When it comes to using two completely different operating systems, yeah, there's an obstacle there."

Keith Stammer, who heads the emergency management division for Joplin and Jasper County, said communication was "adequate" between Joplin and surrounding communities.

Joplin took it upon itself to upgrade its radio system a few years ago, Stammer said, and it didn't involve federal grants.

Those radios, Stammer said, allowed for Joplin to communicate with the Missouri Highway Patrol. He also said communication between Joplin and Jasper County agencies were "excellent." But Stammer added, smaller agencies -- such as Carterville -- that didn't have as sophisticated equipment as Joplin couldn't communicate directly during the tornado.

"Trying to find common ground between those communications systems -- which I realize is not everything to interoperable communication -- is in my mind a major hurdle to get past to find some way to get those two systems combined," Stammer said.

But that didn't mean agencies didn't communicate during the tornado.

"What we did was about the only thing you could do in a disaster situation like that: We started handing out radios," Stammer said, adding that they also invited people into the emergency operations center where people can talk face-to-face. "But you play like you practice. In times of emergency, people do what they're used to doing. They brought their handhelds with them. And that was fine. We encourage that."

Stammer said Carterville's situation during the tornado "is not a surprise" and "endemic of the rest of the situation across the state of Missouri." So without grants how can smaller communities get the radio equipment they need to comply with a looming FCC mandate and to be able to talk with other agencies during an emergency?

"The answer is you can't," Stammer said.

And for mid-size communities like Joplin, Stammer said it's highly unlikely that federal grants will be enough to build their radio systems. He said those communities will likely be on their own to obtain those funds.

"That's going to be needs driven," Stammer said. "We need to be able to talk to other agencies; we need to be able to communicate with them because mutual aid is the name of the game. There's no agency around here, Joplin included, that's big enough with manpower, equipment or facilities to handle any major disaster. And we recognize that."

FCC MANDATE

One reason smaller communities angled for the interoperability grant was a 2013 mandate from the FCC for emergency personnel to have "narrowband" communications systems. According to a 2007 press release from Gov. Matt Blunt's office, meeting that mandate was a primary reason for divvying up the money.

"We are maximizing the Homeland Security funds by using a competitive initiative to allow more Missouri communities to access these grants," Blunt said in his 2007 statement. "This federal grant will continue to help law enforcement and first responders communicate with each other on-scene and relay information to the local emergency operations center."

The FCC's website says the mandate "will allow the creation of additional channel capacity within the same radio spectrum and support more users." An inability to comply with the mandate, according to the FCC, could result in FCC enforcement action, "which may include admonishment, monetary fines, or loss of license."

As Marceline Police Department Sgt. Bob Donelson explained, meeting the FCC requirements early helped the northern Missouri department put the department in the front of the line to get the money.

Donelson

"The good thing about meeting those requirements early...is we don't have to be trying to run right at the very end and competing with anybody else that could be in that boat," Donelson said. "Grant situations are extremely, extremely competitive in the state of Missouri, especially with smaller agencies. And it's just very hard to get them because everybody's after them."

In 2007, Marceline was reimbursed $21,685 to purchase four mobile radios and six portable radios, according to SEMA. Unlike Carterville, Donelson said his department has yet to use the equipment for an emergency.

Similar situations unfolded for the Iberia Police Department in Miller County and the Ripley County Sheriff's Department. The monitoring reports show that the Iberia law enforcement agency was reimbursed $17,526 in 2007 for the purchase of five portable radios and seven mobile radios. Iberia Police Department Chief Andrew Long said his officers have yet to use them in an emergency.

"I would say in a situation where we had to have it, it would be a benefit to speak to officers who aren't normally in this area," Long said.

Ripley County Sheriff Ron Barnett said the radios that they received from the grant have served the area well.

"Communication is a big issue when you're out here in these very remote areas," Barnett said. "We've got a lot of land out here where there are not a lot of people around. And we depend solely upon the communications system. And without that grant...that would have been very difficult."

O'Connell said that the equipment "is intended to be used for both day-to-day internal communications but also to facilitate interoperable communications between the agency and surrounding jurisdictions when needed in an emergency." He also said the funds have gone toward allowing local law enforcement agencies to meet the FCC requirement.

"Safer communities are the objective of interoperable communications programs," added O'Connell. "The idea is that allowing neighboring jurisdictions and multiple disciplines to communicate on common channels leads to better emergency and disaster response."

NEED FOR FEDERAL FUNDING

There's one common link with the smaller departments interviewed by the Beacon: All representatives say it would have been difficult to obtain the radios without federal funding.

"With our budget the way it is in the county and everything, there would have been no way we'd been able to do that," Barnett said.

Long added that the Iberia department "would never have been able to afford a radio of caliber without this grant."

Redden, the deputy chief in Carterville, expressed similar sentiments. "We're a very small town of about 1,800," Redden said. "So we have small staff and we don't have any kind of a tax base. We're more of a bedroom community. So without the funding, there's no way we'd been able to upgrade."

"As matter of fact, there's still equipment that we're still trying to get to upgrade our communications systems," Redden added. "And we're having to go through a local law enforcement grant to be able to buy simple things like antennas for our communication systems....There's no way we could ever afford one radio, not to mention the six or seven that we were granted, plus the three mobile radios."

Carafano

Carafano of the Heritage Foundation said the dependence on federal dollars can be self-defeating.

"The federal money doesn't last forever," Carafano said. "So if you're not paying for it yourself, what happens when the federal money runs out? Normally the thing runs out. So if you buy the radio, great. And then the money goes away. So there's no logistics, there's no support, there's no maintenance, there's no training, there's no replacement radios. So in a couple of years, you're back where you started from."

Carafano said of the potential terrorist attacks thwarted since 9/11, most were associated with New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C. So spreading a few tens of millions of dollars around the country, he said, has "absolutely zero impact against literally drops in the ocean."

"It is simply another form of pork-barrel legislation," Carafano said. "And what's ironic here -- you have the department really cutting corners on things that are fundamentally the department's responsibility. The Coast Guard's got ships that are old enough for Social Security. You've got Coast Guard equipment that is literally falling apart, and they can't afford to fix it. And they're giving a bunch of money to people that's really having very, very little impact."

But Redden said the radios made a big -- even life-changing -- difference within his department.

"The older radios we had were two-channel Motorolas that we were lucky if we could get out of the building," Redden said. "And these have saved officers' lives. I know that for a fact."

]]>https://investigatemidwest.org/2011/08/09/federal-program-seeks-to-avoid-failure-to-communicate-in-emergencies/feed/0Federal Funds For Hiring Firefighters — Anti-terrorism Program or Employment Subsidy?https://investigatemidwest.org/2011/07/13/federal-funds-for-hiring-firefighters-anti-terrorism-program-or-employment-subsidy/
https://investigatemidwest.org/2011/07/13/federal-funds-for-hiring-firefighters-anti-terrorism-program-or-employment-subsidy/#respondWed, 13 Jul 2011 09:09:36 +0000http://investigatemidwest.org/?p=735In federal government terms, SAFER stands for Staffing Adequate Fire and Emergency Response. But does that U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant program necessarily make the country safer from terrorist attacks? Local fire officials say the money helps them deal with homeland security responsibilities that have been added since 9/11. Critics say this is just another example of lawmakers doling out scarce federal dollars for pet projects.

For Mike Eads, a federal grant program to help local fire departments forestall layoffs provided some extra firepower in a crisis situation.

Eads is the fire chief at the Neosho Fire Department in southwest Missouri. In February, it received $780,643 from a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant. SAFER is one of many grant programs under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) grant programs directorate -- part of the Department of Homeland Security -- that provides funds to local agencies.

The grant provided money to pay for six firefighters, two engineers and a training officer. When a devastating tornado hit Joplin in May, Eads said members of his department went to help St. John's Mercy Hospital with triage. They also assisted with search and rescue efforts in the area.

10 Years Later: Are We Safer?

As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks nears, are we safer from a terrorist attack? In a series of articles, funded by grants from the St. Louis Press Club and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the St. Louis Beacon and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting will look at how money from the Department of Homeland Security was spent in Missouri.

Without the SAFER grant, Eads said, he never could have sent as many people to deal with the tornado's aftermath.

"We sent 16 people that first night up there," Eads said. "Had we not had the SAFER grant personnel already here, we probably would have been able to send about four to five."

Missouri fire departments have received $5.48 million from SAFER grants in 2011. About $1.38 million has gone for recruitment efforts mainly at volunteer fire departments, while $4.09 million went to rehire fire fighters laid off due to local budgetary concerns.

In addition to Neosho's situation, St. Louis received a $3.2 million grant that kept 30 firefighters from losing their jobs. A $102,000 grant also went to a fire protection district in Camdenton to rehire one employee for two years.

That $5.48 million is a small slice of the $372 million allocated this year for hiring or recruiting firefighters, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency document. And while federal assistance to firefighters generally enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, some groups and lawmakers have questioned whether federal funds should be used to plug local budgetary holes.

EXPANDED PURPOSE

SAFER's purpose is to hire or re-hire firefighters and to help volunteer fire departments recruit more people.

"SAFER grants provide financial assistance to help fire departments increase their cadre of frontline firefighters or to rehire firefighters that have been laid off," states a FEMA document laying out the elements of the program. "The goal is to assist local fire departments with staffing and deployment capabilities so they may respond to emergencies whenever they occur, assuring their communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards."

In 2009, the program was expanded to to allow for re-hiring laid off firefighters. For fiscal 2010, a FEMA document said that "we will distinguish between grants to hire new firefighters and grants to rehire laid-off firefighters, giving applications for the rehiring of firefighters who have been laid off the highest priority over any other hiring request."

That's exactly what happened in St. Louis where the fire department received $3.2 million over two years to forestall layoffs of 30 firefighters. Chris Molitor, president of the St. Louis branch of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said the money was "instrumental to helping us in keeping our staff levels where they need to be and allowed us to properly protect" St. Louis."

"Obviously with the economic conditions of most municipalities, St. Louis found itself qualifying for the need of the SAFER grant," Molitor said.

Some results of having the grant money, Molitor said, were that all of the city's firetrucks are fully staffed. He also said the money turned back threats of closing engine houses.

A fire at the Pevely Dairy Complex in the Tiffany neighborhood destroyed a warehouse on March 22, 2009. The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) federal grants have allowed fire departments across Missouri to recruit, hire and retain firefighters. Brent Jones/St. Louis Beacon

"[That] would leave a hole in the city, if you would, where the protection wouldn't be there like it is now," Molitor said. "Anytime you have emergency equipment responding from farther away, obviously the emergency can intensify in minutes. Fires grow exponentially within minutes, so it's extremely important to have as many firefighters on the scene as soon as possible."

A similar situation occurred at the Mid-County Fire Protection District in Camdenton, where a $102,000 SAFER grant went to rehire an employee who served as a daytime inspector and firefighter. That department encompasses 10 paid staffers and about 42 volunteer firefighters.

"Because we are a predominantly volunteer fire department, during the week daytime fires is when our volunteers are working," Fire Chief Scott Frandsen said. "So that allows us to put another person available in the daytime to respond to calls."

Frandsen also said the employee is important for inspecting residential and commercial structures. He also said the employee is helpful because of the area's proliferation of fireworks dealers.

"We're about ready to go into fireworks season," he said earlier this summer. "We've got a lot of fireworks in our community. So we've got all these fireworks tents popping up all over the fire district. All those have to be inspected."

MONEY FOR RECRUITMENT

Numerous fire departments received grants in 2011 to recruit volunteer firefighters. Those awards include the Boone County Fire Protection District ($504,050), the Doniphan Fire Department ($272,814) and the Waynesville Fire Protection District ($185,600).

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported in May that the Boone County Fire Protection District, which is comprised of both volunteer firefighters and paid staffers, was planning on using $350,000 of the grant toward marketing and advertising and $71,250 toward the recruitment of a coordinator director.

Scott Olsen, fire chief for the Boone County Fire Protection District, said part of the grant will be used to create a "targeted marketing campaign" aimed at bringing in more firefighters. He also said money will go toward part of the salary for a recruitment and retention coordinator.

The fire district is home to Missouri Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue entity that has responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the Joplin tornado.

"Really the focus of the grant is here at home in the Boone County Fire District," said Olsen after being asked if the grant would assist in the entity's work in responding to major events and disasters around the country.

"We have 14 fire stations and at any one time we might struggle with one station or another with having enough volunteers to fill the roster at a level that we'd like. It's more going to focus on community groups here, neighborhood associations, various social groups [and] high schools.

"Can there be a side effect of this marketing campaign in impacting Missouri Task Force 1 or those kinds of things? Certainly that is a possibility," Olsen said.

Frandsen's Camdenton fire district -- which received a $138,978 SAFER grant this year for "recruitment" -- said that money will be spent in part to send volunteers to summer and winter fire schools. It will also go to hire a part-time recruitment and retention employee.

The Alverne Building at 11th and Locust in Downtown burns May 24, 2010. The St. Louis Fire Department received federal grants of $3.2 million over two years to keep 30 firefighters in their jobs. Brent Jones/St. Louis Beacon

"This person will be responsible for developing the marketing campaign, track the progress of the volunteers, go out to the community and market the fire department to try and get us more volunteers," said Frandsen, adding that this employee could go to job fairs around the area.

He added the grant also allows the district to develop a marketing campaign -- which could include fliers and a DVD -- to recruit new members.

"We're seeing a significant decline in volunteers," Frandsen said, adding that firefighters and EMTs have to meet certification requirements. "All these things you have to keep up, plus the call load. And the (requirements) just go on and on."

CONSERVATIVE BACKLASH

Grants for fire departments were recently at the center of a debate over how to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Initially, the SAFER program and a corresponding program to provide equipment and training to firefighters were cut when the House started debate on the Homeland Security bill. An amendment ultimately passed to increase funding for the program from $350 million to $670 million.

The 333-87 vote was overwhelming -- bringing together Democrats such as U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, and conservative Republicans like U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex. The House also agreed, by 264-157, to continue allowing SAFER grants to go toward rehiring firefighters.

Sam Drzymala, a spokesman for Carnahan, said the lawmaker assisted in steering the grant money toward St. Louis. The local IAFF recently provided him with a ceremonial ax thanking him for his help.

"The United States has a vested interest in seeing communities safe," Drzymala said. "And we've got to make sure that happens in times of economic trouble."

U.S. Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield, and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, were the only members of the Missouri delegation to vote against both amendments. Every Republican except U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, voted against extending the grant's provision to be used for rehiring.

In a statement, Long said, the "future of any program depends on our financial situation."

"Until we can stop borrowing money to pay our obligations, each program has to be examined," Long said. "All levels of government should budget for rainy days. The problem with federal support programs is that they create a cycle of financial dependency and over-spending. I was sent to Washington to cut spending. Each program has to be examined in the face of such a dire financial situation."

Steve Walsh, a spokeswoman for Hartzler, said, "While the congresswoman supports firefighters and the good work they do, the funding of fire departments should be a local issue."

"Especially during tough budget times," Walsh said. "The congresswoman believes that in times of fiscal restraint, difficult decisions have to be made."

Several conservative think tanks have opined against the SAFER program. Jena McNeill of the Heritage Foundation wrote that Congress "is more intent on preserving pet projects than on exercising fiscal responsibility -- attempting to look good on spending while really just playing the same old money games."

Tad DeHaven, a fellow for the Libertarian-leaning CATO Institute, took the criticism a step further.

"Why in the world am I paying federal taxes in Pennsylvania to a bureaucracy in Washington so that it can turn around and send a check (minus a cut for the bureaucracy) back to my local fire department as well as to thousands of other fire departments across the country?" asked DeHaven in a recent editorial.

Asked whether the federal government should subsidize the employment of firefighters, St. Louis' Molitor said that the federal government has provided funds to police departments to expand their forces. He also said that local firefighters have acquired more federal responsibilities in response to the 9/11 attacks.

"Ever since 9/11, the (responsibility) of every fire department in this country has increased dramatically," Molitor said. "Because now, not only are we responsible for putting out fires and responding to emergency medical calls and things like that, we are also responsible for all the anti-terrorism work that needs to be done. [That] includes air monitoring, bomb threats....There are a lot of homeland security issues that the fire departments take care of."

When asked the same question, Neosho's Eads said the program is an example of taxpayer dollars going back to the taxpayers.

"The federal government is supposed to be here to take care of the local governments -- state, all the way down," Eads said. "And to me, that's our money be put back to use in our areas."

A TEMPORARY FIX?

While the SAFER grants may help the three fire departments fend off layoffs for the next two years, they may not be a long-term solution.

Fire departments who use SAFER grants to re-hire firefighters are not required to keep them on after the money runs out -- unlike departments hiring new firefighters, which must agree to keep the employee.

"I'll be honest, if our financial conditions are still the same way, I will be looking at" reapplying for the grant, Eads said.

Frandsen said, "Obviously when you have a 220-square mile fire district, two people on duty 24 hours a day to take the load off the volunteers really isn't sufficient."

Frandsen added, "We'd love to be able to apply for additional firefighters through this grant process. But right now, we don't have the financial resources to support them if they were hired. If the economy changes, I'm sure we'd try to apply to see if we can get some additional firefighters down the road."

Molitor said coming up with funds to support the previously laid off firefighters after the grant runs out "is a concern." But he said it also provides time to work with interested parties to come up with a plan.

"And certainly, we're willing and able to sit down and try to do just that," Molitor said.